Thursday, December 29, 2016

Science on a Sphere

Have you heard of Science on a Sphere (SOS)? It's

a room sized, global display system that uses computers and video projectors to display planetary data onto a six foot diameter sphere, analogous to a giant animated globe. Researchers at NOAA developed Science On a Sphere® as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images of atmospheric storms, climate change, and ocean temperature can be shown on the sphere, which is used to explain what are sometimes complex environmental processes, in a way that is simultaneously intuitive and captivating.

One of the features of the SOS website is a list of various datasets that provide detailed information on a number of topics. For instance, there's a list of Snow and Ice datasets including one titled, "Climate Model: Sea Ice Change (GFDL a1b) 1861 - 2100." Besides explanatory information, there's a model sphere that rotates, and, by using sliders on the left side and bottom of the page you can move the sphere to provide a better view of what is happening at the top and bottom of the globe. Pardon the pun, but the sea ice model is COOL!

Some of the dataset pages have short narrated videos, and they all have links to more information. The SOS site is a great resource for answering questions on climate change, so check it out!